


Good Old-Fashioned

by MarineHaddock



Category: Kamen Rider Zi-O
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book Torture, Book Woz, Gen, Over Quartzer, Violence, Vomiting, Whump, Woz is the book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24550813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarineHaddock/pseuds/MarineHaddock
Summary: The Quartzer capture Sougo and punish Woz for his betrayal.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Good Old-Fashioned

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aquabluejay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquabluejay/gifts).



> Aqua was very pushy for this and I don't get it but damn if I didn't give it a shot just to keep her happy.

The chirps of a cricket echoed loud around the cell. Sougo wasn't really sure how it got in. It was there when he woke and stood just out of reach on the other side of the bars. Chirp chirp chirping and seemingly unaware that it was being watched. He watched it from his spot in the cell. He didn't know what else to do with himself. No one had come when he shouted. No one stood in his neighbouring cells this time. His own cell was empty. Devoid of any distraction. Not even a stray pebble to toss. There was only the cricket, singing for him from the other side.

Every part of him hurt. His face felt swollen and he could only breathe in short breaths as he battled the pain of his ribs. His legs were a mess. They hurt but he couldn't tell if they had actually bled or just badly beaten. He could smell blood among the earth and dust. He didn't want to think about who's it was if it wasn't his own. He couldn't remember much of what happened. He could vaguely tell who he'd fought based on the situation leading up to it, but not the details or what he'd done. He couldn't remember how he ended up unconscious or exactly who would have been the one to drag him to the cell.

Did Geiz know? Did Tsukuyomi know? Woz would know. Woz knew everything. But had they announced his defeat? Had they held him up and announced his defeat? Or did they just keep fighting all who sided with him till there was no one left to save him?

He sat in his cell and watched the cricket. Maybe it would be the key to something. An idea of how to get out or a sign for another rider. A sign that his friends were alive. A beacon for them to find him here. It's antenna twitched and he could almost imagine it sent a distress signal to them.

He felt a great pang in his chest when a door opened and it leapt off into the dark where he couldn't follow. The beacon no longer signalling him.

The heavy stomp of boots down the corridor, and the sound of fabric being dragged along the floor among them. The heavy door fell closed as the people approached his cell. It wasn't a small party, Sougo would have guessed at about fifteen Quartzers there.

Jogen stood at the centre of the bars that imprisoned him but Sougo didn't even look at his face before recognising what he held in his hands.

Woz's book. The tale of his glory, of his destiny as the kindest overlord.  
Or the tale of SOUGO's.

But seeing the book led him to see who was behind it, collapsed in a pile on the ground behind Jogen. Woz. A traitor to the Quartzer. His Woz.

Sougo stared at him. Woz hadn't looked at him. He wasn't moving from where he lay collapsed. He couldn't even see if there was any movement in his chest. Did Woz breathe? He hadn't really considered how human Woz was before. Now he hoped he wasn't. Maybe whatever he was wouldn't need to breathe and he'd be wasting his time worrying.

Jogen opened the cover of the book, his fingers tracing down that first page and Sougo could see Woz twitch behind him. He was alive. Sougo's heart lifted in his chest. Woz was okay. Woz was okay and here. He just needed to give Woz the order and they'd be okay. They'd be out of there and...

Jogen thumbed the corner of the page a bit too harshly and there was a scream so piercing Sougo could feel it through his chest. Everything else fell away, all that filled his senses was Woz's pain. Without thinking he tried to run to him but his legs buckled in their own pain and his face collided with the hard floor.

"My overlord," He heard Woz's broken voice, words struggling to escape his lips. "I'm okay, don't worry about me."  
"Woz," Sougo didn't know what he wanted to say but whatever it was it was cut short as the sound of a page being torn echoed throughout the room. The Quartzer has spread out to let him get a full view of Woz on the ground. He was trying so hard to be strong, but Sougo could see the little scrunches in his face, him biting down on his lip to hold back the scream. To avoid worrying his overlord.

Jogen grabs his arm and pulls him to his feet. Woz is clearly unsteady and Sougo's heart leapt in his chest as Jogen let go and Woz wobbled slightly before ultimately keeping his balance. Woz stood as still as possible as if the slightest movement would make him topple. Sougo tried to drag himself forward, wishing he could reach Woz through the bars to support him but knowing the distance was far too much for him to do anything. He was powerless to help his Woz.

Jogen's fingers tangled themselves in Woz's hair and he jerked Woz's head back harshly, yanking on the locks and making Woz's legs buckle beneath him. He let out the tiniest gasp at the pain and tried to steady himself but the book was thrust roughly into his ribs before he could.

"Tear it."

Woz didn't look at Jogen. He didn't look at any of them, but most of all he was avoiding Sougo's eyes. The one who wished to see them the most. Wished he could try and get any insight to what Woz was thinking as he grabbed the page and ripped it out in one clean motion. He remained stoic but where Sougo lay he could see the slight wobble of his knees. But he didn't fall. He handed the book back to Jogen, still staring straight into the cell and at the wall ahead. There was the tiny upturn of a smile on Jogen's lips like he knew something. He put his hand out to Woz.  
"The page too."  
And Woz obliged.

When Woz let go of it, the page was instantly alight in Jogen's hand. The flame burned bright, bright enough that Sougo could hardly bear to look, but in the quick glances, he saw Jogen's arm take its rider form. Protecting himself from the flame as it burned in his palm. Sougo couldn't see it properly though, his eyes burning and blurred with flashes, forcing him to turn away. His eyes blinking rapidly trying to deal with the pain.

Then he heard a loud crack and when he looked back Woz was once again a crumpled heap on the floor. A heavy boot stricken into his ribs. He was trying to keep that unfeeling look he'd had as he tore the book. Sougo could see the struggle to keep it on his face until he eventually gave in, a moan of pain escape his lips as he tried for air. He was once again compelled by that need to reach Woz, screaming in his mind, but his body wouldn't move. He could only stare. Watch as his Woz lay in agony. Wait for their eyes to meet, only to have his mind be left blank as he looked into them.

Jogen tore another page and Woz broke the brief eye contact they'd had, a shout of pain echoing out. The noise kickstarting Sougo's brain as he tried to process what he was seeing. He'd definitely seen them hurt Woz but now he registered how they hurt the book to draw out his reactions. Woz had always been attached to it but suddenly Sougo wasn't so sure that was it. That that was all it was. Sure, it would hurt to have something precious, the chronicle of your beloved king's rise to power, destroyed before you. But that definitely wasn't the kind of pain Woz experienced then. Unless it was just a very timely hit of the pain in his ribs and then he couldn't be sure, but something in him told him that wasn't the case. Jogen was so focused on the book's destruction, so surely it was something. Something the Quartzer knew that Sougo did not.

He kept his eyes fixed on Woz as he heard yet another page being torn from the book and now Woz screamed fully. It was the book. Something about the book was tied to Woz and he didn't know how but he knew it meant something. Something he didn't need to understand at that moment. His hands automatically went to his pockets, feeling them for what he needed. It had been the first thing he'd done upon waking up in the cell but he checked again now. Still no ride watch. He looked to the corners of the cell, to the small window of light behind him, scanning them for another empty watch. The thing that had been there when he needed it throughout that past year.

But there was no watch now.

He always wondered if it had been Woz that left them. Left them for when he needed them. Surely now was a time he needed them. A time they could do some good. He was sure if he could get one now then...  
The power of Oma Zi-O would be his.

But there was no watch. 

If this wasn't the time though, if this wasn't the time a future Woz would pick to grant him the power he desperately needed to save him then... Then there were two possibilities. 

Either this would be a case where they would get out fine and as it would turn out there was no need for him to gain his ultimate power yet.

Or there was no future Woz to grant it.

"My overlord," A broken voice called to him and he looked back at his Woz who lay there, glancing at him with his arm outstretched. Sougo tried to reach through the bars, wanting to take his hand, but before they could meet Woz's arm shot back in and he wailed in pain. The book twisting in Jogen's hands, the spine starting to rip in his grasp as the covers were pulled away from each other.

A sound echoed in Sougo's ears, one that he'd started to get used to over the past year. Of bones cracking and breaking. The arm that had been outstretched to him moments before was now limp and red and soon started to swell.

His heart sunk, his mind racing with regret for trying to take that hand. Was it his fault? Had he caused that motion? Or was it for the clear defiance by Woz trying to comfort him even when the Quartzer set out to punish him for his betrayal? It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his or Woz's. It was Jogen who held the book and harmed Woz. It was SOUGO who gave the orders. He couldn't let himself be swallowed in guilt for the actions of those who had set him up and used him. He would only be allowing them the same control over him they had always had.

A scrunched up page was thrown at him. 

Sougo didn't wait for Jogen to speak before throwing it back through the bars but Jogen caught it without flinching and once again it went up in flames. Woz screamed and he could see the arm red and blistering.

Of course, Jogen had made sure there was no way he'd win. No matter what he did, it would lead to hurting Woz more. Cruelly keeping him a pawn in their game when he should be their king. 

Jogen kneeled down in front of the bars of the cell, staying just out of reach with the book still clutched, slowly being twisted in his hands. He could see the individual threads snapping and the little ways each one affected Woz, sometimes building up to a moan or a flinch. Slow and torturous, with only a few centimetres protecting Jogen from Sougo.

It didn't, however, protect him from Woz.

Seemingly seeing his chance, Woz pushed himself, shifting his weight to the broken arm as he reached up to grab the book. His grip was too weak to take it completely but he got a hold of it and pulled, struggling to release it from Jogen's grasp. Jogen held firm and the pages and spine tore more as they struggled over it, Woz gritting his teeth as he tried to withstand the pain. He tried to wrestle it from Jogen's grip but his hand was forced harshly away as a boot collided with his good arm, slamming it to the ground. His arm was a mess, bent unnaturally from the impact and Sougo could feel the throbbing pain himself just from looking at it.

Jogen stood up and kicked Woz away, mumbling under his breath. The Quartzer immediately parted and opened a path to the far wall. Sougo wasn't paying attention to them. Eyes still fixed on Woz, head still a mess of wanting to reach out to him again against worrying that doing so would hurt him more. He watched Woz's chest rise with each laboured breath now and he went back to his thoughts of what Woz was. Now, he seemed so horribly human. So mortal. Each time he paused his breathing for just a second too long, Sougo could feel his heart sinking then rising with that eventual in breath.

He didn't like the idea of Woz being something mortal. Woz should be an eternal constant. Forever there, something that no one could remove no matter how hard they tried. The eternal overseer of his reign.

The sudden shriek of pain left that image of him completely destroyed. Writhing on the ground, screaming over and over. Covered in a cold sweat as he struggled. Sougo's eyes shot up to Jogen, fire alight in them, desperately wishing for some way to stop him. Jogen wasn't even looking at him. He stood at the wall, driving a nail through the centre of the open book. It was stuck to the wall, nail through the spine to keep it there. Jogen hadn't even looked at Woz as he screamed, he just stayed entirely focused on his task.

Bang after bang echoed through the cells as another nail was driven in, now through the left block of pages. Woz's screaming grew worse with each strike but never drowning out the banging. Sougo wanted to scream at them, to yell and to threaten them, but what good would it do? He was powerless now. He was forced to just watch. Watch as they drove another nail into the other side, now pinning the book open on the wall. As they did, Woz fell near-silent, reduced to but a few mewling cries of pain between his laboured breaths. Slowly curling in on himself.

The Quartzer started to filter out without another word, leaving only Jogen and a couple others as back up for him. Jogen wrapped his hand in Woz's scarf, pulling harshly on it with enough force to pull Woz's face up off the ground. The other Quartzer's opened the cell and Woz was thrown in and the door relocked before Sougo could even hope to register what was happening.

Jogen said nothing and left.

Sougo dragged himself over, pain shooting through his body with every movement but he gritted his teeth, powering through it to get to Woz. His Woz. Beaten and broken for his loyalty. He lay there, his face soaked with tears, still barely moving from the pain he'd experienced. Sougo stared at him, his head a mix of emotion from all he had witnessed.

It must have hurt when they pulled on his scarf. It must have tightened horribly to lift him like that. Sougo laced his fingers between the scarf and skin of Woz's neck, roughly pulling it away to give him air. Woz took a deep breath the second he did. He could help like this. He could help Woz. He found the end of the scarf and started to unwrap it.

"Don't," Woz's voice was quiet and beyond broken. He didn't have the strength to even address his king properly. That was worth more than his protests in Sougo's mind, so the scarf was removed. He knew it was special. Knew there were things it could do. But right now, Woz didn't even have the strength to use it so what did it matter. He tied it around the blistered arm as if it were a bandage. Maybe it could heal him, he didn't know.

There was so much he didn't know even now.

"Woz," Sougo brushed his fingers through Woz's fringe, feeling the cold sweat slick on his forehead. "What's your book?"  
Right now, it was the most important question he could ask, the most burning one. Why did they care so much about damaging the book if not to destroy his story? Why did doing so hurt Woz the way it did? What tied them together?

Woz didn't answer, his eyes starting to close.

Sougo didn't dare push it any further. He didn't want to be interrogating Woz as he died. There was nothing he could do. Even if he did know what the book was. He shifted round and gently set Woz's head on his lap, fingers brushing through his hair to comfort them both. If nothing else, at least he had his Woz.

They stayed like that a while and occasionally Sougo would look, and see something dribbling out Woz's mouth. When he wiped it away it was thick and black. It wasn't blood at least. That was the only comfort he could take. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it wasn't blood. So Woz had to be okay. He had to be.

Sougo fell asleep with him like that, leaning on the cold wall to steady himself.

A few hours later he was rudely awoken by the sound of the faizphone shooting the lock on the cell door and it swinging open, hitting Woz's leg. Woz barely grumbled in response as Tsukuyomi and Geiz rushed in to shake them both.

"Sougo!" Geiz shouted at him and he mumbled a response just to let him know he was still alive. He wiped the sleep from his eyes almost as if he could forget where he was. Geiz reached out his arm to him. "Can you walk?"  
"Maybe," He gently moved Woz's head from his lap and took the hand tight, letting Geiz pull him up. The pain burned through his legs and they buckled but with a little help he could probably get out. Woz on the other hand...  
"Geiz, you have to carry Woz. Tsukuyomi can help me."  
"What?" Geiz turned his nose up, looking at the collapsed Woz with disgust. He tapped his foot against Woz's ribs. "Hey, what's wrong? You still alive?"  
At the question, Woz coughed up another mouthful of that thick black liquid with a groan of agony.  
"Shit."

They had to help Sougo to the bars so he could hold himself up while they got Woz onto Geiz's back. His consciousness fading in and out atop Geiz's back. It wasn't till they got out the cell that he tried to speak but Sougo cut him off.  
"Don't. You have to conserve your strength right now." Woz made eye contact with him and he could see the haziness in his eyes as he struggled.  
"Yes..."

Tsukuyomi turned him to the door out of the building, but out of the corner of his eye, Sougo could see the book. Still stuck to the wall, tattered and torn.

It was important. They couldn't just leave it.

"Geiz, get the book."  
"Seriously? I'm kind of carrying this asshole at the minute."  
"We can't leave it. Woz needs it."  
Tsukuyomi huffed at them and went to the book, dragging Sougo along with her.  
"How are we even going to get it out? It's not like we have anything for removing nails," Geiz started but stopped as Tsukuyomi grabbed the book. Rather than trying to take the nails out, she simply pulled the book, forcing it off the ends.

As she did so, Woz began to scream again. Scream until Geiz's hand shot up, contorting to try and cover Woz's mouth as he checked no one was running in their direction now. Pray that no one had been alerted to what they were doing. When he took his hand away it was covered in the liquid.  
"Why is here coughing up ink? Tsukuyomi, we can't, if he keeps screaming-"  
"Well, we can't just leave the book!" Sougo snapped at him.  
"What, so they'll be able to hurt him, who-"  
"I care!"  
"Shut it!" Tsukuyomi cut them both off before the fight to proceed any further, the book held in her hands, completely free of the nails. Woz lay unconscious on Geiz's back.

They left knowing that they'd have to ask him about it all when he awoke, and that he'd likely avoid every question.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm feeling the pressure of too much Woz and vomiting coinciding, but Aqua you wanted it, you got it 😂


End file.
